


even when i was wrong

by blackboxxremedy



Series: fangs fogarty/kevin keller [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Dating, M/M, Mild Language, Parenthood, Protective Parents, That's really it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 23:20:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13600575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackboxxremedy/pseuds/blackboxxremedy
Summary: It takes everything Tom Keller has in him not to shake his son like a ragdoll when Kevin confesses that he has a date with a Serpent that coming Friday night. He wants to ask Kevin what the fuck is wrong with him, ask him why he can’t just date a nice boy from the Northside or not date anyone at all, wants to tell Kevin that this is the stupidest idea his son as ever had. This whole fucking town is in the middle of a civil war, and tensions have only risen since the schools merged a couple of weeks ago. Is Kevin trying to get someone killed?Kevin wants to go on a date with Fangs, but his father has his reservations about the whole idea.





	even when i was wrong

**i.**

It takes everything Tom Keller has in him not to shake his son like a ragdoll when Kevin confesses that he has a date with a Serpent that coming Friday night. He wants to ask Kevin what the fuck is wrong with him, ask him why he can’t just date a nice boy from the Northside or not date anyone at all, wants to tell Kevin that this is the stupidest idea his son as ever had. This whole fucking town is in the middle of a civil war, and tensions have only risen since the schools merged a couple of weeks ago. Is Kevin trying to get someone killed?

But that’s not what Tom does or says, because he’s never wanted to be that kind of parent. So, he takes a deep breath, pushes all of his initial reactions back down his throat, and very calmly says, “You aren’t allowed to go. You’re grounded Friday night.”

The words feel strange in his mouth. Tom’s never grounded Kevin in his life.

“He’s not like Joaquin was, he’s-” Kevin begins to argue, but Tom cuts him off, a firm edge to his voice now.

“He’s a Serpent, Kevin. He’s not welcome in my house, and I won’t have you going out with him. I don’t care if you think he’s a goddamn saint. At the end of the day, it’s a dangerous thing to do, especially given how things are right now.”

Tom can see that Kevin wants to talk back, to fight his father and try to stick up for this nameless Serpent boy, but he closes his mouth only a second after opening it. The resigned, hurt look in Kevin’s eyes breaks Tom’s heart clean in two, and he almost calls Kevin back into his office to take back everything he just said as he watches his son trudge out of the room and upstairs with that horrible, sad look on his face. Almost.

Deep down, this is the right thing for him to do, and Tom knows that. His son is the most precious thing in the world to him, and it’s not like he’s the first father to ever forbid their child from going on a date with someone that may not have their best interests at heart. But this is  _ Kevin.  _ Kevin, the boy who makes straight A’s, calls when he says he will, and always comes home on time. Kevin, who brings back the change whenever Tom gives him money to go out on, no matter how many times he says Kevin can keep it. Kevin, who’s good to everyone he cares about. Kevin, who’s been heartbroken since some felony-committing, blind follower-type thug broke his heart and skipped town. 

This is the first time Kevin’s mentioned being interested in someone since Joaquin left all those months ago. If Tom thinks about it, Kevin’s been happier lately, more himself. He’s stopped going out on those awful runs in the woods at night, and he’s always excited to get to school in the morning. But Tom just probably ruined all of that by telling Kevin that he isn’t allowed to go out Friday night. Kevin’s going to have to tell that Serpent boy that his father said he wasn’t allowed to go out with him, and Tom hates that that has to happen, not because the other boy’s feelings could be hurt, but because it’ll be embarrassing for Kevin. He hates that Kevin will have to be upset about that for the remainder of the week, most likely, and that Kevin will have to sit in the house all night on Friday thinking about what he could have been out doing instead.

But as much as all of that makes him want to renege on his decision, Tom knows that he had to be firm, because this really  _ is _ what’s best for Kevin. Tom would hate himself if anything bad happened to his son, and all because he couldn’t be a man and stick to his word.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

Kevin is still pouting on Tuesday, as Tom knew he would be, leaving for school without much more than a few subdued phrases and a muted goodbye. It’s as if the weather decides to match Kevin’s sulking pound for pound, because there’s rain hanging heavy in the air, and the sky is gray and overcast in the way makes a person want sleep late and go to bed early. Patrol is about as exciting as the droll drizzle outside, consisting of nothing more than a few speeding tickets and a minor dispute between a business owner and a customer that parked in the store’s handicap space without a sticker.

Tom knocks off early and makes it home for forty-thirty, finding the house empty when he gets there. Kevin, in his usual fashion, is busy with a couple of club meetings that no doubt turned into an outing to Pop’s. When Tom checks his phone, a text from his son is already on the screen confirming as much.

There a decent  _ Law & Order _ marathon running on TV, and Tom starts watching it, dozing in front of the TV with a beer and a bag of pretzels. He’s halfway into his first episode when the doorbell rings, startling him out of his half-sleep and into reality. Tom expects it to be the mailman with a package that won’t fit in the mailbox, or Mrs. Jenkins from across the street in need of some help bringing in a big bag of dog food or a package of water bottles as she does from time to time, but instead, he’s met with the face of a teenaged boy he doesn’t recognize. The kid is solid, but a little short, and he’s wearing jeans and a leather jacket, shiny silver dog tags peeking out from between the lapels. Behind him, there’s a motorcycle idling in the driveway, and both it and the boy are splattered with rain.

_ Serpent _ , Tom thinks, but he doesn’t slam the door in the kid’s face because it looks like it’s taking every ounce of this boy’s courage to not run away right now, if the petrified look in his dark eyes is anything to go on.

“Can I help you, son?” Tom asks, standing up straight and cocking an eyebrow at the soaked teenager in front of him.

“K-Kevin left this in Chemistry today.” The kid holds out a thick, red notebook that’s miraculously dry out to Tom, and Tom takes it, blinking a little to get past his mild feelings of surprise.

“Oh,” he says softly, clutching the notebook more firmly now, running his thumb absently over where Kevin’s written his first and last name on the cover of the notebook in black permanent marker.

“It has his notes for his project in it, so I thought maybe he’d need it tonight, you know, so he could work on his stuff,” the boy explains, apropos of nothing. Tom gives the kid a harder look, and he notices he’s fidgeting with his hands like he’s nervous. “I- I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to give it to him, so I thought it would be okay if I dropped by.” 

The kid’s rambling only affirms Tom’s notion of him being antsy, and it dawns on Tom that the whole reason this boy came by was to see Kevin. After realizing that, a second epiphany quickly follows: this is the Serpent Kevin was supposed to go out with this Friday.

Tom looks the young Serpent over again, and he decides that in spite of his wet clothes and messy hair, the kid's handsome. He can see what Kevin sees in him, can see some softness in the boy’s eyes. And fuck, the kid came to the door just to give back Kevin’s  _ notebook. _ Joaquin couldn’t even do that to pick Kevin up for a date.

“Thank you, son. He’ll appreciate it. I’m sorry Kevin’s not home right now to thank you himself.”

“It’s really no problem.” And then the kid is turning to leave, but Tom makes him stop short.

“I never caught your name, son,” Tom says, and the boy bites his lip a little before answering.

“Fogarty,” he says, and Tom knows that he’s trying his damnedest to sound confident, “but people mostly call me Fangs.”

The nickname is extremely Southside, but then again, his son is friends with a boy known to everyone as fucking  _ Jughead _ , so Tom thinks he can get over this one just this once.

“Drive safe, Fangs,” Tom says softly, and the boy smiles politely as he turns to leave. Just as Tom suspected, the symbol of the Southside Serpents is slapped right across Fangs’s, the green of the snake glaring against the muted background of the rainy streets.

Tom watches the kid ride off on his bike, Kevin’s notebook still clutched weakly in his hands, and he idly considers the idea that maybe the boy he just spoke with isn’t so bad after all. But the image of that green serpent on Fangs’s back burns hard and mean just behind Tom’s eyelids, as does the memory of how hard Kevin cried after Joaquin left.

_ A Serpent is a Serpent is a Serpent, no matter how many chemistry notebooks they hand-deliver _ , Tom thinks, and all the while, something in his chest grows tight.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

Tom thinks about his interaction with that Fangs boy for the better part of the next couple of days, though he can’t pinpoint why the whole scene’s stuck on repeat in his head. Fangs drove all the way to their house just to see Kevin, and in the middle of the goddamn day too, not at night and not even remotely in secret. He seemed so nervous, that Serpent kid, just to be on the front porch once Tom answered the door instead of Kevin; but Fangs didn’t cut the interaction short and leave after things didn’t go the way he planned, either. He looked Tom in the eye like a man when he talked, and more importantly, he cared enough about Kevin to bring him a fucking  _ notebook _ . In the  _ rain. _

If he thinks back, Tom can’t ever remember Joaquin doing shit like that for Kevin. Sure, that thug made a couple of appearances at the house for family dinner, and sometimes he came to the door when he picked Kevin up, but more times than not, Tom never saw hide nor tail of the kid. And then the whole Jason Blossom revelation came down on Riverdale like the goddamn Rapture, and, well… That really ruined Joaquin for Tom as a whole.

When Tom runs Fangs’s name through the system, the kid comes back clean on all crimes, major and minor. He’s never been on parole or probation, and the kid’s never even been called out by a truancy officer before, a rarity amongst even the most clean-cut Southside youths. As much as he doesn’t want to think anything good of this Serpent, Tom sort of can’t help it at this point. The boy behaves, and he seems to be settling in at Riverdale High nicely. When Tom call over there, Principal Weatherbee has nothing to report about Fangs Fogarty, save that one of his buddies is a bit of a hothead, and he even mentions that the soccer coach had his eye on the kid for the upcoming season. It’s like every time Tom tries to find a fault in this boy, he only uncovers better and better things about him. 

Tom’s not sure what to think of that.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

Friday morning dawns clearer and more cheerful than any other morning of the previous days, with a few weak rays of sun filtering through a light mist of rain. Kevin’s mood seems to be only minimally improved when he comes down for breakfast (half a dozen donuts split between them, a weekly tradition since Kevin was a little boy), and as Tom watches his son eat quietly and without relish in something Kevin usually loves, he finally decides that it’s time to let this whole thing go.

“What were you and that Fangs boy going to go out and do tonight, anyway?” Tom asks, and he’s failing miserably at trying to be casual. Kevin wipes the corner of his mouth with a paper napkin and shrugs.

“There’s a screening of that new Marvel movie at the Greendale movie theatre tonight at eight, and we were probably gonna get some food before that,” Kevin says blandly. He looks up at Tom, and there’s a hardness in his eyes, as well as a defensive edge to his voice. “Why do you want to know?”

“Kevin,” Tom begins, sighing a little, “I love you more than I love anybody else in this world- even more than I love your mother. You’re my only child, and I just want you to be safe.” Kevin nods, trying to act like he’s not interested as he picks at his last donut, but Tom’s undeterred. “That’s why I forbid you from going out with Serpent boy. With everything going on in town right now, I didn’t know if it was best for the Sheriff’s son to go out with a Southside Serpent.”

“Fangs is nice,” Kevin interjects, and the defensive edge in his voice has only hardened.

“I know that,” Tom tells his son gently. He touches Kevin’s hand, and Kevin looks up at him, seemingly a little less angry now. “And I also know that you were heartbroken after Joaquin told you everything that he’d done, and even more heartbroken after he left town. I didn’t want something like that to happen to you again, either.” Kevin nods another time, looking away, and Tom can see how much it hurts him to think about Joaquin, even now.

“But,” Tom sighs, standing up to clear away his dishes, “I’ve decided that Fangs is worth a shot. You’re not grounded tonight, and you can go out with him like the two of you planned before.”

Kevin’s out of his chair like a shot, and the look on his face is one of utter disbelief. “Really?” he splutters, and it’s a wonder to Tom that his son hasn’t fallen over from shock yet.

“Really,” Tom affirms, and can’t help but smile when Kevin throws his arms around him and hugs him hard enough to make his ribs hurt.

“Thank you,” Kevin gushes, and he’s grinning from ear to ear when he pulls back. “Thank you so much, Dad, really, I-”

“But Kevin,” Tom cuts, and Kevin quiets down even though he’s dying to ramble, “I want this boy to come to the door and to pick you up properly, not idle in the driveway and text you that he’s outside. And if you find yourself in a situation, any situation at all, that makes you feel afraid or nervous, you call me and I will come get you immediately, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, do you understand?”

The smile drops off of Kevin’s face as quickly as it appeared. “Dad, Fangs wouldn’t take me to do something illegal or-”

“I’m not telling you that because Fangs is a Serpent, I’m telling you that because I’m your father. I would give you that same speech if- oh hell, I don’t know-  _ Archie Andrews  _ or any other boy came to pick you up for a date.”

That makes Kevin smile again, and he’s softer as he says, “Thanks, Dad. Really.”

“You’re welcome,” Tom says, and later, he knows that he’s made the right decision, because Fangs is waiting for Kevin at the front of the school when Tom drops his son off that morning.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

Fangs shows up the house in a car this time, no doubt borrowed from a relative or a sibling, and he’s also sans Serpent jacket, which, Tom must admit, makes him feel just a little bit better about the whole this whole date thing. The kid looks scared shitless while Tom makes small talk with him in the living room, but his smile is blinding when Kevin comes downstairs.

Tom gives Kevin some money and asks that he texts him when the movie’s over, and Kevin rolls his eyes good-naturedly and says, “Yes, Dad, of course.” 

And with that, the boys are leaving. Tom settles in for a night of waiting up for his son.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

The next morning, Kevin comes down to breakfast with a hickey peeking out from under the collar of his shirt, and he practically glows when Tom asks him if he thinks he and Fangs will go out again.

“Yeah, I think we will,” Kevin says softly, and his smile is shy but also so,  _ so _ happy.

Tom sips his coffee and studies his son, and it’s then and there that he decides that the Southside kids may not be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know why i enjoy writing about kevin's relationships from his father's perspective, but i just do


End file.
